I’m not a measurements fundamentalist by any means but this article is a good read in so far as it demonstrates measurable differences in DACs.

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/audibility-thresholds-of-amp-and-dac-measurements.5734/

Interesting to note also that the correlation between price and performance on some of these graphs is, well, variable.

I got downvoted for a very similar comment too. If there is any audible difference between Transport A and Transport B for the same DAC then one of them is doing more than transporting.

We use the Alpine ones and have found them great but I’m sure there are plenty of good options.

The most important thing is you are taking steps to do this.

The idea that people are “Audiophiles” and spend thousands and thousands on kit but don’t protect the most important bit in the audio chain is just nuts.

I’m back on CDs.

I build a library with Roon and Qobuz but for what I consider 5 star albums, I buy the CD, rip it and replace the Qobuz version in Roon.

When I want to sit down with a drink and listen in a dedicated fashion I use the actual CD, it provides the “physical media” feels.

I came to this conclusion because of 3 things.

1. I like the idea and security of owning the absolute favourites.

2. CDs are both better and cheaper than Vinyl.

3. I am now entirely convinced that anything more than 16/44.1 is redundant.

Nice, very nice.

I have a Lyngdorf CD-2 that matches my TDAI-3400.

You can use it as a player and I’ve tried both modes, transport sounds so much better, digital domain all the way from laser through amplification is wonderful and clean.

But I know in my heart that any transport would sound exactly the same. It’s bits.

When I’m sitting there, glass of red in hand, CD spinning knowing it sounds and looks as good as it possibly can, I’m ok that I paid over the odds for the aesthetic, but transport is transport and the bits arrive or they do not.

“if the goal of an audiophile is to get the highest quality reproduction”

IF by “highest quality” you mean most accurate reproduction then yes you are quite correct, vinyl will not match lossless digital of 16/44.1 or greater.

I’m not sure that is the goal for everyone here though, and that is where the answer lies.

Well now Roon doesn’t work at all without Internet connection - you can always turn to your CDs in an outage.